Study of a new local update scheme for cellular automata in structural design

This paper investigates an improved local update scheme for cellular automata (CA) applied to structural design. Local analysis and design rules are derived for equilibrium and minimum compliance design. The new update scheme consists of repeating analysis and optimality-based design rules locally. The benefits of this approach are demonstrated through a series of systematic experiments. Truss topology design problems of various sizes are used based on the Gauss-Seidel and the Jacobi iteration modes. Experiments show the robust convergence of the approach as compared to an earlier CA implementation. The approach is also extended to a plate problem.